Flora

There was a lot of restoration work that needed to get done, but we didn't have time for that. We had to plan our next move around the enemy's next move.

We had a day of funerals.

Fire leaping into the darkening sky, as was tradition.

The next day was spent on clearing rubble and getting the army rested and healed, just in case we are launched into an attack sooner than we wished.

We were given rooms in the Citadel. There were enough for each of us to have our own, but we decided to double-up. I could never fall asleep in a quiet room, or without the rumbling snores of Dusk, and the Links couldn't sleep without the others either.

It's the curse of companionship.

Twilight snored as loudly as Dusk did, and Wild talked in his sleep as often as Sun did, but I still couldn't sleep.

I stared at the bottom of the bunk above me.

I could just about see Twilight's bunk shaking in time with his snores.

Everytime I blinked, my eyelids scraped against my eyes. They were heavy, and I could just barely feel the bags tugging down under my eyes.

And yet, I was wide awake.

I had taken to my nervous habit of playing with the knife Riju gave me. She said it was requested specifically by Urbosa. Meant as a gift for the late Princess of Hyrule. On her seventeenth birthday.

But she never got a chance.

Short party with a small handful of friends and then she had marched off to Mount Lanayru.

And we all know what happened next.

I had planned on confronting Urbosa, to get her to give Destiny her knife, but I know that it's a coming-of-age, a tradition. Every Gerudo girl, when she turns seventeen, is given something tied to her desired trade. If she hasn't made up her mind yet, they, as a warrior race, give her a knife.

The blade was slim and it was one-sided. Has a nasty bite.

The design is obviously better meant for cutting into the tough voltfruit and hydromelons that provide your only source of water when out in the desert, but can do a just as good job with cutting into Yiga.

I twisted the knife around, still in its sheath because I didn't trust my drowsy strength. Or lack therefore of.

I fingered the red ribbon made of rough fabric.

For most deserts, outside of Hyrule, the color red is the color of the untamable and dangerous desert, black the color of fertile soil.

But with the Gerudo, the color red represents their patron, Din, the Goddess of Fire.

I stared absently at the bottom of Twi's bunk.

Wild mumbled something about a frog. I teasingly elbowed him. But not hard enough to wake him.

I guess part of the reason I couldn't sleep was because it was dark.

Those hundred years, it was always dark.

I can't stand the dark. Not anymore.

I would see the horrible pulsating of the cocoon. Like a heart's beating. I would see the twin fires, like eyes, staring out at me from the darkness. And I would hear his laughter.

Horrible and malicious.

Resounding through my mind, shaking me down and stripping me apart from the inside. Echoing through my mind like a soundtrack.

Never quite the same, always in some dark recess of my mind.

And it was breaching the surface, yet again.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but that only increased the feeling. The sound.

I can't believe I didn't light a candle. I knew the consequences of the lack of light: nightmares. But all of the sources of light in the Citadel were all but destroyed. I wanted to save the candles and lanterns for when we really needed them.

When the laughing reached its apex, the phantom pain started.

I immediately threw away the covers and sat up, swinging my legs over the edge. I gripped the mattress and stared at the Gerudo knife. My hair hung around my face.

"Zelda?" Wild sat up, that characteristic worry on her features.

I gave a smile that didn't reach my eyes. Twilight may get mad and give him lectures about his own safety, nothing could be more important to Link than the safety of his friends and family. "I'm fine, Link." I whispered.

"You shouldn't've convinced me to forgo the light." Link sighed, joining me on the edge.

I smirked, bumping him with my shoulder. "Look at you, using big, fancy words like 'forgo'." I snickered quietly.

"And 'shouldn't've'." Link snarked.

I giggled, and his laughter faded ever so slightly.

"I'm going to go visit Destiny." I said, standing up. "I would like to talk to her, and get her out of that dress."

"At his hour?" Link raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "I know how my ever-so-slightly younger mind works. I know that after Akkala Citadel–even though it was a win–she'll still be awake."

Link nodded, hugging his knees to his chest.

I strapped my knife to my leg and grabbed a bundle of clothes for Destiny before grabbing one last thing. Link lit a lantern and handed it to me.

I nodded before leaving.

The red-carpeted hallways, once regal and looked upon in awe, once, when it was considered an honor to walk through them.

Now, the carpet was ripped and burned. Portraits that once lined the walls, most of them having fallen to the ground or simply tilted. Shattered glass spread around the fallen picture frames.

Blood was everywhere.

But thankfully, the otherwise dim light didn't illuminate the dark splashes along the floor and walls.

My feet traveled through the halls, dragging me with them. Tracing a path they haven't been down in over a century.

I didn't stop until I was in front of a door. The one the princess stays in.

My hands were full, so in exchange for a knock, I tapped my foot lightly against the door. I set it back down and waited.

Not long after, the doorknob twisted and gave way.

Destiny stood in the doorway, in the prayer dress. Looking like she had gotten just as much sleep as I did.

"Can I come in?" I asked, raising the bundle as a sort of offering.

Destiny nodded, stepping back and letting me in.

I set the lantern on her bedside table. I turned the knob, feeding the fire more oil and making it glow brighter.

I set the bundle on the bed. "I guess you had some trouble sleeping?" I said, sitting on the silk covers, which barely looked slept in. Desi joined me. "I can't sleep either."

"What are you doing up so late?" Destiny asked uncertainty. "I could ask the same." I said, going back to fingering with my knife. "But I won't. 'Cause I already know the answer."

Destiny dropped my gaze, turning it to her knees, with her hands gripping them.

"All those lives lost…" Desi said softly. So softly that I wouldn't've heard her if it hadn't already been so quiet. "I just can't help but wonder if their deaths were in vain. If they lost their lives for a lost cause of a Princess…"

"You aren't a lost cause." I said, just as sofly. I placed my hand over her own. Desi stiffened a little, so did I, shivering at the direct physical contact, something I didn't like doing after Ganon.

"But I'm not able to unlock my powers…" Desi said, in defense of her so-called 'worthlessness'.

"'The Powers of the Goddess aren't something you unlock…'" I said, recalling something Artemis one told me. "'They're something you must earn.'"

Desi looked up. "Really…?"

I nodded, breaking from her gaze to all but stare at the painting of Hyrule Castle. "I once shared your beliefs… I all but hated myself for letting my country fall to ruin… A whispering evil did nothing to ease that pain. But a friend of mine helped convince me otherwise."

I looked back up, giving a tense smile I hoped she couldn't see through. "The moral of the story is… It doesn't hurt to have a friend who'll always be there for you. I, for one, have friends who I know will always be here.

"And you…" Destiny looked up. "you have at least one."

Destiny nodded, smiling. "I do, don't I?"

We lapsed into a comfortable silence. The flame trapped behind the glass of the lantern flickered, sending patterns of light dancing along the walls and our conjoined hands.

The pale, smoot hand of a Princess, underneath the rough, callused, tanned hand of a warrior.

"I have something I want to give you." I said, shattering the peaceful silence, tilting my head toward the bundle. Sitting pretty on the silk linens behind me.

I took my hand off of hers. Using it to reach back and grab the bundle. I placed it between us and began to unwind the twine that held the parchment together.

I pulled the parchment down, the contents coming into the light.

"These are my backup clothes." I explained, as Destiny took them out. "A blouse, skirt, some night clothes so you don't have to sleep in them,"–She was wearing her dress and I was in my just oversize navy undershirt–"some undergarments because I know what a princess' undergarments are like and they offer no support, and a pair of boots, well suited for running and fighting."

Destiny stared wide-eyed at the clothes as her hands absently sifted through them. She looked up at me, gathering her wit enough to nod and smile. "Thank you. You've already done more than what was expected of you."

"I would like to do more once more." I said, taking out the final thing in the bundle.

The one real noticeable aspect of the object was the red leather-wrapped handle in the middle. The rest of it looked like it was made of spare Guardian parts. Which, of course, it was. A stabilizer was tied to the main object by a red rope. Blue cords wrapped around it. They, and the orange lights provided more light.

"What is it?" Destiny asked, putting the clothes back in the bundle.

I gave her a mischievous smirk as I pressed a concealed button so you don't accidentally activate it.

The Ancient Bow opened with a sound of whirring machine parts. The glowing blue string materialized out of almost nowhere.

Destiny took it from my hands with the wide eyes of a researcher told all her predictions are true and experiments successful.

"You'll have to get some arrows off of someone who can spare 'em, but other than that, you should be set." I explained. Destiny stared at Robbie's invention, inspecting every angle. She looked up at me.

"Thank you, so much… Flora."

I smiled. A real, genuine smile. This was the first time she'd called me that.

"I think… I think I should get some sleep." Destiny said. "Thank you."

I nodded, standing up. "You're welcome." I picked up my lantern and moved to the door, taking the light with me. I pushed myself halfway out the door, before turning back to Destiny. "Get some sleep, Zelda."

She nodded, and I left.

I shut the door, severing the way to the Princess.

I turned, and almost ran head-first into the Gerudo Chieftess.

"Oh!" I said, trying to calm my racing heart. Everything is scary in the dark, in ruined and destroyed areas. "Urbosa! You scared me!"

"Sorry Flora." The Champion of Sand said. "I was just going to talk to Zelda–I know how difficult sleeping must be for her right now–but you beat me to it."

I shrugged. "Sorry?"

"Don't be." Urbosa said, walking with me as I started walking back to my room.

I took a shaky breath, burying the memories deeper in my mind. Preventing them from surfacing. Along with the pain.

"I wanted to talk to you about that knife of yours." Urbosa said.

"What about it?" I said, getting defensive.

"Yes." Urbosa said. "I assume it was given to you by your Urbosa."

I shrugged, pausing momentarily to unsheathe the object of conversation. "More or less…"

Urbosa looked confused, prompting me to explain. I sighed. "My Urbosa… didn't… get as lucky as you… In my timeline, the Champions and hero died during the Great Calamity. So… Urbosa was never given a chance to give it to me. But it was kept by her family as a sort of heirloom. With a story tied to it, of a princess, and her relationship with the Gerudo Chieftess and the knife. So when Riju learned of my story, she thought I was the princess in the story." I said.

Urbosa hummed, and we lapsed into silence as we walked through the halls. I put my knife away and then decided to fidget with my sleeve.

"Flora…" Urbosa finally said, when we were standing outside my room. "I want you to know that you are still my Little Bird. No matter the timeline or outcome, or anything else that makes you separate from Destiny. I'll take care of you for your Urbosa. It's all the same to me."

I smiled. "Thank you Urbosa."

She gave a sweet smile. "Have a good night."

"You too."

Urbosa continued walking down the hall, leaving me alone with the flickering flame and the draining oil of my lantern.

I reentered the room. Wild was asleep again. I smiled.

I put the lantern on the table. I turned the knob in the opposite direction. There was a soft click! as the oil was locked off and the flame was extinguished.

The laughter started up again, but it was much more muffled than before.

I crawled into bed without a sound, and closed my eyes. Sleep claimed me faster than it had in over a hundred years.

My sleep was blissfully lacking in dreams. Just peaceful blackness.